‘They took away my only chance to help my girl’

Laura Drysdale

A mum has spoken of her heartbreak after burglars stole money she had raised to pay for medical treatment for her poorly six-year-old daughter.

Thieves broke in to Shabnam Nazir’s home, ransacked her property and made off with a safe containing more than £5,000 and Asian jewellery.

The money, which she had raised through bag packs, sponsored walks and dinner parties, was to be used to pay for therapy for her daughter Amelia Qadeer, who has Cerebral Palsy and progressive intestinal failure. She takes the youngster to Glasgow three times a year for the Advanced Bio-mechanical Rehabilitation, where specialists also train her to administer some of the techniques to Amelia herself.

Devastated Ms Nazir, who was also planning to sell the jewellery to raise more funds, said: “I am absolutely distraught. I can’t believe it. That money was for Amelia’s therapy. Medically, there’s nothing else doctors can do, except make her comfortable. The therapy is the only thing to help my little girl.

“It makes so much difference to her because it gives her the quality of life she deserves, by helping to relieve some of her pain. These evil people have taken away my only chance to make her feel better.”

Ms Nazir, 34, said the burglars struck while she was at Martin House Hospice, getting support for Amelia.

Her sister who has moved into the house with her family to help Ms Nazir, returned home and spotted the intruders inside.

She said two people fled out of the back door, while a third person, waiting in a blue BMW at the front of the house, sped off as she called police. The family said burglars had trashed the house, ransacked Amelia’s belongings, and broke some of her specialist equipment.

Ms Nazir said: “We all feel really unsafe now in our own home. If anybody has got any bit of information, they should realise how much this means for a girl who is suffering.”